Random Observations: December 2017

The long-awaited post is finally here. Unfortunately another prolonged period of exams ensured that my writing time was slashed, although now the opportunity of publishing a new post has emerged and a sense of regularity should be able to return well into February. As I haven't ventured out of Ealing recently none of the current changes can be documented yet, although a trip into Central London on the weekend should kick-off the massive catch-up that lies ahead. Nevertheless, I hope you enjoy another random-based post, with the right amount of content this time.

Tower Transit WSH62297 stands at Covent Garden on route RV1.

The hamartia of the once glorious RV1 hasn't gone unnoticed by both enthusiasts and Transport For London, especially due to the massive decrease in patronage recently, bringing annual usage down to six digits, something very concerning for a high frequency Central London route. Five years ago, this route arguably needed a conversion to double deckers, buses were always busy and the route seemed to be operating successfully. However, a gradual but painful deterioration of the RV1 has become apparent over the past few years, with relentless diversions and horrific traffic contributing to the problem. There hasn't been a single period of time where the RV1 hasn't been involved with some sort of long-term diversion in recent years, with some of them being detrimental to the reliability and usefulness of the service. Closures of important roads like Tooley Street have sent the RV1 all over the place, crossing roads like London Bridge where the road movement is always painfully slow. As a result, the service has been pretty poor too, with Tower Transit struggling to maintain even headways much of the time. In addition, the WSH-class hydrogen buses aren't too reliable either, which means that unattractive conventional single deckers have been roaming around the streets of Central London regularly, something which is off-putting for tourists and consequently decreases ridership.

This is a huge problem because the RV1 doesn't really have many regular commuters, most of the passengers simply board the service spontaneously due to the various tourist attractions it serves. It also provides a handy link between Tower Hill and Waterloo, although most of the route is followed by other services which are more frequent. I'd imagine a large amount of revenue is earned through the destination display of 'Covent Garden', a thriving tourist area which has no bus service due to the awkward and unconventional street layout there. The RV1 makes an attempt at serving Covent Garden, although the terminus is only 60 seconds away from Aldwych, which is served by two dozen other bus services, resulting in a large number of disappointed tourists who find themselves dumped outside the tube station rather than at their wanted destination. To investigate passenger numbers I decided to sample the service in the height of the evening rush hour and I'm pleased to say that the bus was surprisingly busy, being fully seated at various points throughout the journey. However, buses heading the other way seemed to be carrying fresh air, so perhaps the high loadings on my trip were anomalous rather than what's expected.

My theory of the route having no commuters was proved to be correct, with almost 90% of seats being taken up by groups of families travelling together. A large number boarded at Tower Hill, although the intermediate stops proved unpopular and it seemed that almost everyone stayed on until the end at Covent Garden, apart from a small number of travellers bound for Waterloo or London Bridge. To some extent, TFL's strategy of advertising the service as serving Covent Garden is still effective and is probably the only reason why the RV1 still exists in its current form. The future is uncertain, but perhaps when all the roadworks are finally complete and the service returns to a bearable state, the RV1 can flourish and become the important Riverside route it used to be.

Go-Ahead London SE26 stands at Dagenham East.

The 364 isn't the most riveting single deck route around, with describing it as residential almost being an understatement. It runs from Dagenham East-Ilford via a circuitous routeing which involves travelling through Seven Kings and Goodmayes and takes around 45 minutes from start to finish. My bus, SE26, was tatty despite its recent refurbishment and felt really sluggish, although I often find that when the vehicle is unsatisfying I tend to focus on the external surroundings more, so if the 364 was interesting then I would be in for a treat. Although I've experienced more depressing routes, the 364 wasn't exactly something that I'll treasure in my memory. An average route can be defined here, there weren't many noticeable negative qualities, but I don't have many positive things to say about the route either. There is an urban interlude in Goodmayes, although the relentless hail and ride sections and constant turning around Seven Kings did make me feel fed up towards the end of the journey. It is the only route in one of the residential areas it serves, which means that the 364 is one of the busier routes running out of Ilford, which can be problematic as the service is patchy at times. The route is popular with young people who mainly use it for short hops, I counted 22 U16s on my journey who all used the bus for less than six stops. Despite it serving two Crossrail stations no improvements are scheduled for either the 364 or surrounding routes, so the expected increase in patronage won't go unnoticed by the travelling public. Although the 364 isn't one to recommend, it can be useful sometimes and I was relieved to find that there were occasional lapses in the plain housing which dominated this part of East London. It isn't one of the better single deck routes, but it could've been a lot worse.

Arriva London HV247 pauses along Bishopsgate, with the Gherkin sneaking into the photo in the background.

The 242 is one of those routes that seems to appear on the blog fairly regularly, either because of recent major changes or because I frequently find myself along the route. Before the curtailment to St Paul's, I used the 242 on a regular basis, mainly because it took me from the Shoreditch area to the West End in a pleasant manner; as the 242 isn't allocated horrific New Routemasters. A few of its Wrightbus Gemini 3 B5LH vehicles have been repainted in an all-over advertisement livery for the Google Pixel, making the buses stand out from the crowd along the route, like HV247 illustrated above. Although the 242 is still a pleasant route, since its curtailment it has no use for me at all, and loadings have suffered as a result. The 10bph frequency at rush hour is certainly superfluous, with London Oveground improvements in the Hackney area also contributing to its patronage decrease. Even if the best section of the route has been cut, the section around Homerton is rather interesting, where the double decker often struggles to navigate the narrow community roads and overall I still really like the 242. Grabbing a seat is almost guaranteed and the short nature means that by the end you don't feel disorientated, which is often the case for hour-long trips. If you're looking to waste time in North-East London then the 242 is something to try, although there are definitely better routes which venture further into this ever-growing and fascinating part of the City.

Metroline Travel VW1048 is seen at Hessel Road working route E2.

The local strikes again. Pictures of the E2 are regularly found on the camera roll, so it's no surprise that one has ended up in this Random post. Reliability is slowly improving although there are still inconsistencies and there is room for improvement with bunching and regulation being the main issue. As a user of the E2 on a daily basis, I find it bizarre and concerning that my buses have never been paused en route by the controllers for over three years now. If two buses find themselves bunched together, they'll probably stay in this position until the end of the trip as almost nothing is done as a method of mitigation. Curtailments are either absent or blatantly apparent, on some days you'll find none although at other times having every other vehicle turned at Scotch Common isn't an uncommon sighting. The route isn't too long either with not too many traffic hotspots bar the occasional jam towards Greenford, but other routes in the area seem to operate well despite running along the same roads. However, I'm generally finding that the buses are turning up on time more and more lately and there is a noticeable difference from last year where I couldn't rely on the service in the morning almost every day. For some odd reason the refurbishment programme has ground to a halt; VW1034-VW1068 were all completed over a month ago with a much-needed refresh and boost to continue serving West London for another five years, although the last four vehicles haven't even entered the workshop yet! Some of them, VW1072 in particular, are looking very worn out now and are making some questionable engine noises, so hopefully this is sorted out soon. Additionally, the wrong cover shape has been placed on the downstairs wheelarch seats, which does look a little odd, although comfort hasn't decreased in any way, making a once hideous batch of buses now bearable to ride, in most cases.

Arriva London HV111 starts a journey at Lordship Lane en route to Tottenham Court Road.

One of the more well-known Central London routes is the 29 and surprisingly it still runs with conventional vehicles, which are very pleasant to travel on too. The Wrightbus Gemini 2 B5LH buses have a welcoming interior and superior acceleration compared to many other examples of this type, making the 29 an enjoyable way to travel across North London most of the time. It's high frequency also makes the route (generally) reliable and easy to use, something which has boosted my ridership on the service recently due to the deterioration of route 24, both in terms of vehicle type and reliability, which this route parallels between Trafalgar Square and Camden Town. The 29 then continues North to serve Holloway, Finsbury Park and the congested Green Lanes, before conveniently terminating at Wood Green (WN) bus garage, where Arriva London operate this flagship route from. Unfortunately, TFL have decided to reduce the frequency of this route recently, which is absurd and detrimental to all regular users of the service. It's the third busiest route in London and one of the most crowded too; getting the front seats is virtually impossible unless you're boarding from the first stop. Many reports have confirmed that buses are even busier than before and eventually some people will simply switch to the congested Piccadilly and Victoria lines, decreasing patronage even more as a result. Nevertheless, the 29 is often quieter on weekends and if you want to ride a mainstream Central London route that hasn't been plagued with new Routemasters, the 29 is one of the better examples around.

Go-Ahead London SE174 is seen in the Beddington Lane industrial area.

Despite the fact that I haven't done the 455 from start to finish yet, I still have an unusually large number of pictures of the service, mainly because of the recent service change that occurred back in March. Coincidentally, I managed to take a ride on the service during my attempt at Transport Roulette 2017 , an infuriating game of chance which can sometimes successfully send you all over London, although going round in circles isn't uncommon either and a full set of rules have been linked above in case you're daring enough to give it a go. Starting off at Ealing Broadway gave me a wide choice of transport methods, although the bus triumphed and my day began with the 65 to Brentford, followed by a number 267 to Chiswick. After a hop on the District Line, a rather wasteful exercise meant that I used the same Southern branch line three consecutive times, frustratingly travelling back and forth between Carshalton Beeches and Wallington on crusty Class 455s that aren't in the best condition. However, some bus rides around South London followed featuring the 157 and 455 (not the train this time!), followed by a Tram and a lengthy Thameslink ride into Central London from one of London's least used stations, South Merton. Just as I thought my number 76 would take me up into the depths of North London, the dice sent me back along the exact same route before ending up in Canary Wharf. However, I ended up travelling back on myself for a fourth time until I ended up at London Victoria. I ended my day at Gatwick Airport, thanks to the dice deciding it would be wise to blow £9.00 on a 'premium' Gatwick Express train that still slowed down for the intermediate stations. However, it can be a fun and thrilling experience and I hope to try again soon, perhaps starting somewhere further away.

Go-Ahead London EH13 stops at Waterloo en route to Canada Water.

This particular ADL Enviro 400H vehicle has become a regular on the 1, although it's still the only example of this type to work the route, presumably because the other ones haven't been blinded yet. These workings have become apparent since the 1 transferred from Mandela Way (MW) to New Cross (NX) garage in July, bringing its dedicated batch of Wrightbus Gemini 3 B5LH vehicles with it. Currently, the 1 runs between Holborn and Canada Water only (making the route seem rather short), although its official terminus is at Tottenham Court Road, however the return date has been postponed at least five times and I'm sceptical that it will return, especially with the upcoming pedestrianisation of Oxford Street, which will displace other routes to the former 1 stand. A large number of these pictures were taken in Central London, so it's no surprise to find another victim of a frequency cut in this post. The 1 was also a busy route, with buses frequently leaving Central London with no seats in the evening rush hour - this experience has been worsened since the reduction. Even though these cuts can be justified in the middle of the day where buses frequently carry a small number of passengers, rush hour is where bus routes flourish in terms of their loadings and cutting them just forces even more people onto the already overcrowded and dangerous tube network, which simply can't cope with much more demand. Hopefully, regular users of the 1 will stick with the service despite it's inconvenience, although I'll certainly empathise with the public if they start walking to Bermondsey Station every morning instead of catching the bus.

A panoramic shot of Grove Park Bus Station.

Grove Park looks quite lonely in this photo, with only a solitary 136 occupying the generous stand space. The other terminating route, the 181, has awful reliability and a fleet of buses which are literally falling apart, in some instances being held together by tape on the outside, so it's no surprise that none of those feature in the shot - hopefully Stagecoach will be able to improve the service when they take over from Go-Ahead in a few months time. The much more substantial route here is the 136, which has continually grown over the years and bucked the trend of decreasing patronage, mainly due to its recent extension to Elephant & Castle. This not only gave the struggling 343 additional support in the sprawling Southampton Way area, but offered new links from Lewisham to Elephant and other parts of South London, something which has proved extremely popular and now has resulted in a rather overcrowded service. The 136 is surprisingly infrequent and takes a very long time to complete (every 10 minutes for a 75 minute e2e journey at rush hour), but is a perfect example of how improvements to services can actually benefit both passengers and TFL, due to higher revenue, in the long-term. I've certainly found the 136 to be very useful over the recent years and it's generally reliable too, although the convenient location of its home, Catford (TL) garage, does help significantly. It's quite nice that this photo has been selected, as it shows an example of a bus route success story, rather than the normality of reporting doom and gloom and how the bus network is gradually dying. If routes like the 136 can prosper with extensions and improvements, perhaps other routes can be treated in the same way. The investment might actually generate some profit, which is all TFL need at the moment!

Go-Ahead London WVL94 stops at Vauxhall Bus Station.

Initially, WVL94 might seem like an ordinary first-generation Wrightbus Gemini B7TL that'll leave London in a few years and you might question why it can be found on a Central London route nearly every day. However, WVL94 has been lucky enough to participate in a trial which converts old diesel vehicles into almost new Hybrid buses with a completely different engine. The Go-Ahead vehicles have been pretty reliable, although the ALX400 examples in East London have spent 90% of their time sitting in the garage rather than working the demanding route 123, where they seem to constantly break down! Nevertheless, I managed to sample one of the Go-Ahead buses back in October, on route 87 between Aldwych and Vauxhall, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that I enjoyed the ride. The engine noises are certainly eccentric, sounding a little like a B5LH upon acceleration, although you can probably tell that the bus wasn't originally 'green'. The vehicle has also received a refurbishment, suggesting that it'll be roaming around London for a few more years and may well be one of the last two examples of this type in the City, with WVL95 also carrying the technology. If the trial is successful, the Vantage conversion will be spread onto many more London vehicles, hopefully preventing the need for buying new buses and keeping some much-loved classic types into existence.

A Wrightbus Gemini 2 DB300 vehicle pauses at Mill Hill East en route to Edgware.

An unusual characteristic of route 221 is the operation technique used to meet demand levels across all of the route. It's one of the only routes in London to have scheduled curtailments, with many vehicles only travelling between North Finchley and Turnpike Lane Station, rather than working the full route up to Edgware. This method was very effective initially, making sure that the capacity was provided for the busiest section of the route, whilst saving resources by keeping the service levels minimal for the quieter part. However, demand to and from Edgware on the 221 has increased significantly in recent years and now a large number of buses are very busy along this part of the route and the need for scheduled curtailments is starting to be questioned. If a full-length only system was installed, it would also result in a frequency decrease for the North Finchley-Turnpike Lane section, although this issue is being debated and I think the possibility of these changes happening has been put on hold for the near future. As I haven't sampled the service, I don't have any strong opinions on the matter, although I usually favour the views of the local commuters when in doubt, because they're the ones who'll be affected most. The route has also recently converted to 100% Gemini 2 operation, ousting another batch of the endangered VLW-class vehicles with Arriva, with only one batch left working route 142 between Watford and Brent Cross. I'm hoping to catch a ride on the 221 this Christmas, mainly because the section through Mill Hill looks unusual and hilly, something which I normally like about bus routes, and maybe I can produce some feedback then.

Thanks for reading and stay safe!